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Somalia to be the 7th largest oil producer in the world

British Firm BP to Explore Somalia Billions of Oil Barrels

British oil giant British Petroleum signed concessions with the Petrol Department for the Somali Federal Republic to explore oil and gas in the war raven East African nation.

Intelligence reports existence of significantly large oil deposits in Somalia which could change global prices if tapped.

The Somali shores of Indian Ocean could be having some of the worlds largest oil deposits.

Experts geographical assessments point out billions of oil barrels are reserved untapped in Somalia.

Intelligence collected by Strategic Intelligence shows Somali Puntland province has 10bn barrels of oil reserves, making one of the top 20 countries holding oil.

A company that drilled wells in Puntland estimate 4bn barrels (about $500bn worth at today’s prices) in its two discoveries in Somalia.

If drilled, Somali oil would flood the market beating countries like Nigeria and Kuwait to make Somalia the 7th largest oil producer in the world.

WOW :eek:

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Reply 1

username1341660

Well good luck to them :biggrin:

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This will surely give their economy a great boost if they do it right.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yep ^^^^

Isn't Somalia a lawless hellhole with no government? Not sure whether the Somalian people are really going to benefit form this.

Reply 4

RF_PineMarten

Original post by tengentoppa

Isn't Somalia a lawless hellhole with no government? Not sure whether the Somalian people are really going to benefit form this.

It has a government, but a lot of its strength and military gains against rebels is because of foreign troops such as AMISOM. Most of the country is still pretty lawless. Not the best place to drill for oil.

Reply 5

Pulse.

Hopefully Somalia is the main beneficiary of these projects; the place is a warzone.

Reply 6

ahdbadman981

Don't they have WMDs???

Reply 7

Chicken.M.

the pirates will steal all the oil though :eek:

Reply 8

Badshah

Good for them. Hopefully this will benefit their economy and their people.

Reply 9

MatureStudent36

I'm always amazed as to why oil tends to be found in flash point parts of the world.

BP does have a good track record at developing local areas where oil development happens.

Reply 10

Alfissti

Wonderful hopefully they follow the Norwegian model rather than arabic model with regard to their resources.

Reply 11

Umar1

These were the oil contracts signed by the old military dictatorship in the late 80's

Spoiler

These articles will help if anyone wants to gain an insight into the situation.

Spoiler

And then there is the Uranium.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hbVWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gOkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7276,235261&dq=somalia&hl=en
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140415-905144.html

For now however, I hope whatever oil, gas or minerals we have stays under the ground. We are not ready for it. We have tribal administrations fighting each other under the guise of federal states or breakaway regions. The petroleum laws are contradictory and not accepted by the regional administrations. Terrorists who believe they will enter heaven immediately the moment they blow them self up in front of a coffee shop etc.

Reply 12

Jerry Meandering

The problem is that a company like BP would need to invest many billions of dollars into a scheme like this and Somalia isn't politically stable enough to attract those levels of investment.

Reply 13

Umar1

Original post by Jerry Meandering

The problem is that a company like BP would need to invest many billions of dollars into a scheme like this and Somalia isn't politically stable enough to attract those levels of investment.

And in the meantime regional administrations are signing deals left and right with small, dodgy oil companies, on areas which the likes of BP, ENI, Conoco, Chevron and Shell still have rights to from the former military dictatorship.

Reply 14

SamTheMan95

There's a dispute between Somalia and Somaliland (where the oil is located) about the rights to the oil fields, so it'll be while before any taps start flowing.

Reply 15

Umar1

Original post by SamTheMan95

There's a dispute between Somalia and Somaliland (where the oil is located) about the rights to the oil fields, so it'll be while before any taps start flowing.

The dispute is between Puntland (a regional administration of Somalia) and Somaliland (a breakaway region of Somalia). The federal government in Mogadishu has not entered the fray and hasn't issued any statements about this.

The oil isn't just located in that place. The likes Eni, Shell and BP were exploring in other areas of Somalia.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 16

SamTheMan95

Original post by Umar1

Shows my ignorance I thought the puntland was part of Somalia.

Reply 17

Umar1

Original post by SamTheMan95

Shows my ignorance I thought the puntland was part of Somalia.

Oh it is, that shouldn't be taken as indication that it governs itself as part of Somalia or takes its orders from Mogadishu though. Puntland is as independent of Mogadishu as Somaliland. The only difference is Somaliland is seeking international recognition as an independent country.

The federal government is trying to improve its relations with Puntland, while at the same time they are trying to tempt Somaliland away from seeking international recognition. So they are neutral in this territory dispute between Puntland and Somaliland, an area which is said to contain oil.